Leaders cry out for gun control

When Marcy V. Johnson’s son Lanyia J. Johnson was only 13, he was hit in the back while watching television by a stray bullet that tore through the doorjamb of the family’s Worcester home.

Six years later, the family, including his older brother and twin sister, is working together to help Lanyia, who was left paralyzed from the waist down.

“He’s not able to walk, but he has very good spirits and a good foundation that keeps him going,” Ms. Johnson said of her son. “Emotionally, mentally, physically, we are trying to keep ourselves together.”

Ms. Johnson was a participant in a panel discussion on gun violence prevention at the Boys and Girls Club on Tainter Street yesterday, hosted by U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester.

Among the panelists were John Rosenthal, president of Stop Handgun Violence; Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme; Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz, who is part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns; and Dr. Michael Hirsh, surgeon-in-chief of the Children’s Medical Center at UMass and acting Commissioner of Public Health for Worcester.

Ms. Johnson told the audience of about 85 that the unnecessary violence that affected her family affects the whole community, and that it will take everyone getting involved to fight for change.

“This is a really overwhelming subject,” she said. “Our children are our future, and we need to protect them at all costs.”

To end the status quo and finally pass common-sense gun-control measures, the panelists said, all citizens will need to push for change and become activists to fight special interests and powerful gun lobbyists.

Mr. Rosenthal, a Boston developer as well as president of Stop Handgun Violence — a Boston-based, nonprofit organization that works to reduce and prevent injuries and deaths caused by firearms — said passing gun control laws shouldn’t be this hard.

In a nation in which federal regulations govern how toy guns and teddy bears are made, requiring background checks before the purchase of firearms designed to destroy soft tissue and kill as many as possible without reloading is not unreasonable, Mr. Rosenthal said.

Massachusetts is a model for federal gun-control measures, he said, with the lowest firearm fatality rate in the nation.

“We live in a democracy, but we’re losing it to special interests,” Mr. Rosenthal said.

“Democracy is dead when it comes to gun control in Washington unless we get involved.”

In the wake of one mass killing after another, including the Virginia Tech massacre in which 32 people were shot and killed and the recent deaths of 26 in Newtown, Conn., including 20 children, he said Congress has done nothing.

“They said, ‘We’re not taking a vote on this — we have more important things to do,' " Mr. Rosenthal said. “Last I checked, the fiscal cliff and debt ceiling didn’t result in 87 deaths each day.”

Some of the laws in place to protect the gun industry are unfathomable, he said. As a legal gun owner, he said he can only get three rounds of ammunition for duck hunting to “protect the duck population,” yet criminals, the mentally ill and terrorist groups can buy 100-round clips designed to kill people.

These people are not allowed to fly in planes, but Congress said no background check is needed if they are on the suspected terrorist list and want to buy firearms, he said.

Those who oppose gun laws, Mr. Rosenthal said, argue that people need to have the same weapons that the military has — that they cannot trust government or law enforcement and that they need to be armed to the hilt to defend themselves against a renegade government.

But, he said, the government has nuclear weapons, planes and tanks.

When one audience member compared the issue to what occurred in the tobacco industry and said lawsuits against tobacco manufacturers not only finally changed how people looked at smoking, but also led the way for Congress to enact a number of laws that transformed the industry, Mr. Rosenthal said that cannot happen with the gun industry because Congress gave the gun industry immunity, so gun manufacturers can’t be sued.

“It would take a majority of Congress, but they can revoke it,” he said.

Mr. McGovern said one problem is that our society has a really short attention span, and as time passes after a tragedy, the issue is pushed to the back burner.

“Congress has done some really stupid things,” Mr. McGovern said, including making it easier to carry weapons across state lines and in state parks.

“We’ve done everything possible to make it easier for criminals and even terrorists to obtain guns in this country,” he said. “It is insane how far we’ve gone.”

But, he said, this is the year for change and the time is now for the gun-control debate to happen in Congress and a vote to happen.

He and the other panelists urged people to become activists and have Congress do what the nation’s founding fathers wanted it to do: Deliberate on these issues.

“We can change this,” Mr. McGovern said. “This is possible, but it requires everyone’s help, of standing up to very powerful, well-funded special interests.”

Mr. McGovern said more discussions like Friday’s are necessary across the nation to educate those who are against tighter gun laws in order to enact federal legislation that will make a difference in gun violence prevention.

Among the panelists were John Rosenthal, president of Stop Handgun Violence, Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme, Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz who is part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Dr. Michael Hirsh, surgeon-in-chief of the Children's Medical Center at UMass and acting Public Health commissioner for Worcester, and community advocate Marcy V. Johnson.

After brief introductions, Ms. Johnson, whose son was shot while watching television in their home by a stray bullet that left him paralyzed, started the discussion with her story and urged people to get involved.

She told the group of about 85 in the audience that the unnecessary violence that affected her family also impacts the whole community. Her son, Lanyia J. Johnson, was an innocent bystander and only 13 at the time the bullet tore through the doorjamb of their Worcester apartment in 2007.

"He was watching TV, and it struck him in the back and left him paralyzed from the waist down," Ms. Johnson said. "This is a really overwhelming subject. … Our children are our future, and we need to protect them at all costs."

Mr. McGovern said more discussions like today's were necessary across the nation to educate those who are against tighter gun laws in order to enact federal legislation that will make a difference in gun violence prevention.